Tutorials - Moving from PHP to * - Standard ML, Haskell and other Functional Languages
A fairly recent addition to the languages used by software companies making “real” products are the types of programming languages known as Functional programming languages. These have been very popular in academic environments for a long time, but only fairly recently have they started to be used on any great scale in the industry. Being a fairly diverse group of languages, I can only apply generalizations here. Some characteristics inherent in most functional programming languages are:
- Their syntax is often quite unfamiliar to someone who already knows C or PHP, and thusly may take some getting used, even for the most seasoned computer programmer. However, don’t let this discourage you. The syntax is usually different because the languages are different in some (usually) fairly major ways. Because the designers of these languages didn’t restrict themselves to “C-like” syntax, they have been able to add new features, many of which will make it worth your time learning these languages.
- They are usually based on “modern” programming concepts, leading to the ability to create “uncrashable” programs. Features such as garbage collection and type-checking make life much easier for the programmer.
As a fairly comprehensive resource, I suggest you look at: www.hprog.org. This page features links to background information on Functional Programming and information on various languages.
